Gold Ore
This article is about the Terrain Special known as "Gold Ore". For the trade resource used for buying things and paying Upkeep Costs, see Gold. Gold Ore is a type of Terrain Special - specifically one of the Minerals. This mineral appears as a group of shiny yellowish streaks on the overland map. Gold Ore is exceptionally abundant on Myrror, but is also not uncommon on Arcanus. It can appear on Hills and Mountains, and on Myrror can also be found on Grassland tiles. The presence of a single tile of Gold Ore within the catchment area of a Town will raise that town's Gold output by exactly . This can be further boosted by the presence of the Marketplace, Bank, and/or Miners' Guild in this town. Gold Ore can be changed into Iron Ore using the Transmute spell, and Iron Ore can be changed into Gold Ore using the same method. Gold Ore can be removed from a tile by raising a Volcano in that tile. Corruption temporarily removes the bonus that Gold Ore gives to nearby towns. Description There is a good reason why Gold is used as the primary currency in the worlds of Master of Magic: it is highly desirable. The shiny yellow metal is beautiful to behold when molded into intricate shapes, and has dazzled humans (and apparently, other races) for millennia. It is also soft enough to be easily worked into coinage, and abundant enough to be useful to the general public. Locating a Gold Ore vein is a stroke of luck to any surveyor. Rumors of the existence of large quantities of Gold in certain areas of the world have sparked almost maddened stampedes of workers who hoped to become rich. In truth, Gold is rare enough that its value as a commodity is fairly stable - allowing it to be used as a fairly-accurate means to judge personal or even national wealth. In the game, Gold Ore appears as you might expect: a group of shiny yellow streaks across the surface of a tile. It is often easy to spot, especially on Hill or Grassland tiles. Initial Placement and Terrain Gold Ore appears on both Arcanus and Myrror in respectable quantities. On Myrror it is by far the most abundant mineral - and thus one of the reasons why Myrror is considered the richer of the two Planes. When a new game is started, Gold Ore will be randomly placed on many Mountain, Hill, and even Grassland tiles across the two planes. On Arcanus it is about as likely to appear on any of these Terrain types. On Myrror, it is extermely common on Hill tiles - much more than any other mineral. Nonetheless, the random nature of Mineral placement still means that it's possible to find no Gold Ore at all on either plane - but this is extremely rare. The only way to remove Gold Ore from a tile is to raise a new Volcano underneath it. This permanently removes Gold Ore from the affected tile - and it cannot be restored. Volcanoes can be created using either the Raise Volcano or Armageddon spells. Mineral Effects Gold Ore is a Mineral, and thus provides a bonus to nearby towns. This bonus is equal to exactly , but can be altered by various Town Buildings, if present. Gold Bonus The presence of a Gold Ore tile within the catchment area of a town increases the town's Gold output by exactly . In other words, the town will now produce every turn on top of what is produced from the town's citizens and other sources. Note that this bonus is not subjected to the current Tax Rate. The Gold Ore tile will yield exactly even if the town has only one citizen who is a Farmer and the Tax Rate is set to 0. However, as explained below, several Town Buildings can capitalize on the availability of Gold Ore to increase trade and make more money off it. Town Building Bonuses There are two types of Town Buildings which can affect the output of the Gold Ore mineral. First, the Miners' Guild building increases the base gold production of Gold Ore by 50%, to 4. Secondly, any bonuses, including the Marketplace, Bank, Merchants' Guild, as well as Road/River/Ocean Gold and Prosperity, will also multiply the bonuses from Gems. A patch of Gold Ore near a city with all of those effects and a population of 25 would produce . Shared Tiles It is possible to build two towns close enough together that their catchment areas overlap. Shared tiles are marked by a red "1/2" label, seen in each town's details screen. When a Gold Ore mineral occupies a shared tile, it will give half of its benefit to each town. Therefore, each of these towns will only get from the shared Gold Ore tile (instead of . Note that it is quite possible for this state to change during play, as new towns are established and existing towns are destroyed. The Gold Ore tile's bonuses will be redistributed automatically in such events. Transmutation Using the Transmute spell from the realm, it is possible to turn a Gold Ore mineral into Iron Ore. Iron Ore makes construction of new Normal Units in any nearby town slightly cheaper and faster - but not by a large margin. As a result, players who do not have an absolute necessity to produce a large number of Normal Units quickly have no reason to transmute Gold Ore into Iron Ore. Also, extra income from the Gold Ore means you can probably buy new units more often, thus getting roughly the same end result without having to cast the Transmute spell. Remember that transmutation is not permanent: you can always cast the spell a second time to change Iron Ore back into Gold Ore. Corruption The Corruption spell can be cast on a tile containing Gold Ore. In such an event, both the Gold Ore itself as well as the tile it is on will cease providing any bonuses to nearby towns. To combat this, send Shamans or Priests to Purify the affected tile immediately. If several tiles are Corrupted, Gold Ore tiles usually have a mid/high priority for Purification. Several spells, including Gaia's Blessing and Consecration, may also help if they are available. Category:Terrain Specials Category:Minerals